Otumfuo in a pose with President Desi Bouterse and his wife after he was decorated with the highest honour of Suriname on Sunday
THE ASANTEHENE, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has added another topmost award to his long list of enviable awards, having been presented with the Highest Honour in Suriname, South America.
The President of Suriname, Desi Bouterse, presented the Highest Award of his country to the Asantehene during a colourful ceremony on Sunday.
The ceremony was also attended by some powerful traditional leaders from Asanteman such as Nana Otuo Serebuo, the Juaben Paramount Chief and Nana Owusu Afriyie, the Apagyahene.
Significantly, the Highest Award in Suriname is very special as it is usually presented to people with unique qualities who have played key roles to transform their societies and the world at large.
Otumfuo, who was the special guest of honour during the 43 Independence Day Anniversary of Suriname, was therefore deemed fit by his host country to receive the award following his exemplary leadership.
The Asantehene was given a standing ovation for his great achievements for Asanteman and Ghana before he was decorated by the president.
Champions Ethnic Cohesion
Meanwhile, Otumfuo has called for harmony among ethnic groups across the globe so that together they can assemble their resources and work in peace to speedily achieve their developmental goals.
“There is strength and beauty in diversity; therefore we must abhor all the things that divide us and stop us from achieving our developmental goals”, the Asantehene remarked.
He said the olden days when one ethnic group fiercely fought against one another now belongs to history, saying “now our enemy is not the other ethnic group but rather diseases, poverty, ignorance and conflict”.
According to him, challenges facing mankind like poverty, greed, injustice, hunger, ignorance and conflict, just to mention a few, can easily be defeated when the various ethnic groups unite and see themselves as one people.
Otumfuo was speaking at a public lecture which was under the theme: ‘The Role of a Traditional Modern King in a Contemporary Modern State’. The Asantehene was the main speaker of the historic event.
Continuing, the Asante Monarch entreated traditional leaders to continue to play leading roles to help accelerate the development of their traditional areas and their countries as they did perfectly prior to the colonial days.
Otumfuo said chiefs are agents of positive change and development and so he was charging them to make the development of their areas their core mandate, adding that chieftaincy still remains relevant as it used to be in the olden days.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi